Together
by AnneMDR
Summary: Snow & Charming. Spans from the moment he wakes her up with his true love's kiss, up until The Evil Queen curses them all into our world. My take on how their lives and their relationship changed and evolved between those two events. This story takes place solely in FTL. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Snow

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone pertaining to Once Upon a Time, Disney, ABC and/or their associates. I just like the show and its characters. No copyright infringement intended. Not making any profit from this. So, please don't sue!**

This story will revolve around the events that might have occurred in Snow White and Prince Charming's lives from the moment he wakes her up from the sleeping curse, till about the moment Regina sends them to Storybrooke, Maine. It will include elements already seen on Once Upon a Time (albeit perhaps a little differently, since I don't think I can keep constant track of every exact detail) as well as some other things/moments created by my own imagination.

**A word:**

_I really want to do their story justice and honor these characters as best as I can. However, I will change the characters slightly. They will hopefully be darker and a little edgier. There will be cursing and sexual situations (hence the rating). The story itself might get a little AU since I have no way of knowing how things will pan out on the show in future; but it will begin and end with familiar events. Please bear with me on this journey, since it will likely be a long one. _

_(Also, please don't be put off by the fact that the first 3 chapters or so take place during a single moment. I will get the story moving a little faster as I go)_

_Thank you._

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"Snow" Prince Charming whispered as he stumbled towards his beautiful princess encased in her glass coffin.

He was too late, the dwarf claimed when the prince demanded her delicate sarcophagus be opened. He was too late, his mind had screamed as the tears swelled in his eyes and spilled. He was too late, his heart hammered and raced inside his chest before the Prince felt like it too might falter and die without her. What was his heart without her? Nothing made sense without her.

The cold, blinding serenity of the icy forest seemed to be filtering into his bones. He was shivering. His breath was but a frosty, empty smoke. A numbing sensation spread through his limbs as he leaned against the nightmarish image of her frozen tomb; his knees no longer able to support the overwhelming weight of his grief.

His head dropped and he felt faint, but he would not move. He wanted to touch her. Wanted to touch her arms, her lips, the silky darkness of her midnight hair, pooling around her pale face like a shadowy halo; a dark halo of coal ringlets for his white angel.

The glass was stopping him. Yet it was the dizzying sensation of its tricky transparency that affected him most. The crystal seemed to mock him. Tricking his eyes into thinking he could reach out and touch her, but offering instead the smooth resistance of its surface in place of her tender skin.

The miniscule snowflakes started gathering atop the coffin, and as he stared into her peaceful, sleeping form he was suddenly enraged by the thought that the snow would cover his princess, and she's be forever lost under the thick layer of death. He would not let this happen. He would gather her into his arms and carry her away toward the warmth of a far away sunset, where he could feel the heat of her velvety skin once more.

Something touched his arm. One of the little men surrounding him was grabbing the fabric of his garments. The Prince didn't know whether he had said anything out loud that would betray his sorrowful, demented thoughts and the little men was trying to keep him at bay or if he was simply offering the comfort of a friendly hand to help him navigate his woes.

At that moment, Prince Charming, David, didn't care. She was his. Even in death, she was his. And, although he didn't feel strong enough to be able to fight these strange little guards if it came down to it, he would not give her up without spilling some blood first. Even if that blood ended up being his own.

"Open it" the Prince demanded again. The pain in his eyes shooting arrows at the bearded dwarf standing across from him on the other side of his Snow White.

Grumpy sighed. And he knew, by the look in the Prince's eyes, he knew that if he did not oblige this wounded man would not ask him again, but run him through with his sword if need be.

"She's gone" the dwarf tried to reason with him. But there is no reasoning with the mind of a desperate lover.

Prince Charming moved to open the coffin himself. Yet, even in his desperate state, he realized the slippery grasp of his numb fingers would not allow him to do so. The lid was heavier than he imagined.

He had fought so hard for her, come so far to be with her, loved her with the passion of the hopelessly in love, and yet here he was, unable to release her from this fragile looking cage. It had all been for naught.

Prince Charming trembled. And then, just as a condemned man on his way to the rope might beg the heavens for mercy, he too hung his head and begged. Begged for the mercy only touching her one last time could offer.

His anger and resilience crumbled all around him like the shattered walls of the weakened fortress of his love, and his voice was barely more than a whisper. "At least let me say goodbye"

_(To be continued...)_

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Thanks for taking the time to read. Any reviews or comments will be greatly appreciate it! :)


	2. A Kiss

Short chapters get the engine going. They will get longer.

**Once again, I dont own anything**

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He was broken. And the dwarfs took pity on this man, this great royal, who had in just a few minutes become a shadow of his former, glorious self, right in front of their eyes. Grumpy nodded, and the men slowly lifted the glass lid away from the immobile figure of their beloved Princess. The movement was smooth, the moment calm and quiet.

To Charming, it was as if an invisible hand had reached down from the skys to tear away the last barrier between him and his Snow White. So small she looked, so fragile.

She was a porcelain doll. A doll, patiently awaiting on a shelf for someone to touch her and break her. Too delicate for the roughness of this world. Too precious for the raw, maddening feelings her image could awaken in the depths his soul. Not even death could quench his desire for her.

Prince Charming was in a haze. He was in a dream, he thought. This was another cruel trick of the Evil Queen. She must have cast some kind of spell over his mind, over his eyes. It had to be, he tried to tell himself.

But the pain was all too real.

It flooded his senses, overwhelmed his thoughts, clouded his judgment. No trick, no dream, no curse however powerful could feel as strongly as loosing her felt. His Snow was gone. She had been murdered. She had wilted and died while he laid helplessly behind bars; his love bleeding out all over the stone floor through the invisible would in his heart.

Snow, his beloved Snow, lying there before him with her arms crossed over her chest. Those arms, which he had felt so strong before, so warm before, were lifeless and cold now. Those lips, which he had kissed and felt tremble against his own were no longer as red as he remembered; but were instead tainted with a purplish blue that sent a shiver of painful sadness up David's back.

He reached out and touched her hair, the only part of her that seemed as bright as before.

Her radiating beauty had not abated. But her light, her warmth, was extinct. This creature lying amidst the fallen snowflakes inside her crystal box was a shell. The shell of his lively, brave, funny, loving Snow White.

She looked peaceful. She looked unreal. And David didn't want it, didn't want her, to be real; he kept fighting to convince himself that this was in fact not happening.

A kiss, he thought. A kiss to wake me up from this horrible nightmare, his heart tried to reason.

Or a kiss to say farewell? His mind argued in return.

Whatever the outcome, a kiss, a taste of her lips, was never wrong. So, as the tearful eyes of her seven dwarfs looked on, he leaned down and placed his mouth against hers. He poured his hope and his love and his life into this kiss and prayed it could bring her back to him.

And indeed it did.

For Snow White was not dead. She was under the spell of an evil sleeping curse. A bite of a shinny red apple was the trigger that had condemned her to an eternity of hellish, imprisoning slumber that would torture her forever. Or so was the Evil Queen's intention anyway.

But love has a way of spoiling one's plans. And true love is the strongest, most stubborn kind of love there is. It knows its true power even if the person in whose heart it resides doesn't.

For Prince Charming had no idea that his love had found the way to break the curse. His pure love had delivered his prayer to whoever had been listening.

A circle of light suddenly emanated from the sleeping princess and her kissing prince. And the seven incredulous witnesses hovered over the couple as this light spanned out and away into the forest, passing through them all on the way. It felt like a rush of fast, intense heat that disappeared almost as soon as it began.

And then Snow White breathed.

It was a deep, painful breath that dragged and clawed at her throat as it made its way down to her lungs. A breath that brought her back to the world of the living, to the realm of her kingdom, to the trees and the sky that had protected her, the friends who had sheltered her, the birds and the animals that had given her warmth and kept her company, and most importantly, a breath that returned her to the arms of her lover.

Her green eyes opened. And she saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen, her Charming.

He had tears in his eyes, and for a moment neither of them moved. Neither of them could believe, nor even understand, what was happening. But then it didn't matter; because then she smiled and he smiled back, and they both felt the most alive they had ever been before.

"You" Snow White whispered. "You found me"

_(To be continued...)_

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Thank you for reading.


	3. Breathing

Hey, my first reviews! :) Thanks to all 3 of you! xoxo

& Special thanks to Angie. You're awesome & I love you (not just for the help with this chapter but for so much more).

**Once more, no copyright infringement intended. **

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_He'd done it. _Her Charming.

He was there, standing above her, towering her frame with the protective aura of his own. Snow White sighed and blinked to make sure he was really there. To make sure he wasn't just a mirage, wasn't just a product of her cruel imagination, and wouldn't vanish into the gauzy film behind her eyes.

David could barely breathe. He felt as if he had been the one brought back from the dead. Yet, the Prince instantly remembered what he had said to her upon their first meeting; that he would _always_ find her. So he forced his voice to return and whispered softly back to her, "Did you ever doubt I would?"

Well, to be quite honest, he had certainly doubted he would. The Prince knew that he never would have if it hasn't been for the help of that mad man, Rumpelstiltskin. And even once he found her, he couldn't truly believe what he had found.

But now was not the time to tell her about that. Now was the time to enjoy the feel of her living body once more.

They were close enough for their cloudy breaths to entwine. But he wrapped his fingers around her thin arms and pulled her up closer to him.

He needed to feel the strength and the warmth return slowly but surely to her pale, delicate limbs. And he also never wanted to see her lying inside that glass coffin again. It was a memory he hoped had never existed in the first place, but knew would inevitably haunt the darkest corners of his mind for the rest of his life.

"Truthfully? the glass coffin gave me pause."

And there it was, proof that his Snow White was entirely back; that she was most definitely not a shell any longer. He always did love her sense of humor.

Prince Charming chuckled, and found himself nestling his face into her little hand as she cupped his cheek. So thankful was he for the happiness he thought would be forever gone without her.

"You never have to worry. I will always find you" the Prince repeated the words he had said to her so many times before. That phrase, at the beginning a mere threat, had with time become a truth; and David was beginning to realize it was now the proverb by which he lived.

"Do you promise?" Snow White asked.

She asked solely because she knew that he would indeed promise. Asked, because only Charming could make her such an impossible vow and still make her heart believe it.

So when he nodded yes, she believed him. And thus, neither Prince nor Princess paid any mind to the fact that they wouldn't realistically ever be certain he could keep that promise.

Still, he wanted to reassure her of it. To make sure she knew that she would never again be without him.

David caressed her precious face, tracing his thumb over her lips. He ran his fingers through her ebony hair once more and felt it tangle playfully around them. He placed his hand on her chest, crushing the delicate beading of her gown, and tried to find the solace of the soft drumming of her heart.

But his hand was either too numb or too calloused to feel anything other than her dress. And in that moment, Prince Charming's need to comfort Snow was selfishly replaced by his own dire need to be comforted by her; by the feeling of her skin and the sound of her living breath.

Damn his inadequate hand, he cursed himself silently. David could not remember that it is not easy to feel a heartbeat on a chest even under less peculiar circumstances, and thus unfairly blamed his limb for failing at the task.

For a second, the Prince wished he could just tear apart the white ribbons of the dress and completely pull her gown aside. Wished he could rest his ear over the paleness of her naked bosom and listen to what he could still not feel.

He nearly did it. His mind was envisioning himself tearing and pulling the satin fabric at his will, modesty and morals be dammed!

But then, sensing (or perhaps guessing) his need by the look on his face, Snow White calmly took his hand in hers and guided him to her neck; where she knew he would be able to find her pulse more easily.

It was faint. But there it was. The subtle, sublime, rise and fall of her palpitating soul.

He smiled and sighed, his desperation passing. And Snow White's heart actually raced at the sight of his joyful face. How she had missed that charming smile of his. The same smile that was now fading slowly as he quietly chastised himself for letting his need overpower everything else; even his concern for her own needs.

Snow could see the turmoil on his face, the guilt. She didn't know the reason behind it, but it didn't matter.

She leaned over and kissed him once more.

Whatever he was feeling, whatever might be plaguing him, she would make it better. _They_ would make it all better. Together.

_(To be continued...)_

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Thank you for reading!


	4. Friends

_As I said initially, I hope you're not put off by these first 3 chapters taking place during one scene. If you are, I'm sorry. I will try my best to get the story moving faster from now on!_

**_No copyright infringement intended._**

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As the kiss ended, they opened their eyes and stared at each other once more.

The Princess was sitting up in her glass box, looking at Charming through those impossibly long lashes he liked so much. Her smooth forehead was resting against his, when she felt him shivering.

She knew he had been scared. She had seen the fear, and the sorrow, lurking in his clear blue eyes; had felt it, in the way he had grasped her arms hard enough to hurt her. It made her love for him grow and deepen even more.

She was not scared. Not now.

She might have been before, when the uncertainty of what would happen after she bit that apple tormented her the very second she had bitten into it, and when she had found herself trapped inside her mind in a room full of solitude and endless mirrors. But Snow White was not scared now. Now that she was awake and he was with her.

Whatever she had done, she had done to save his life.

And here he was now, alive and well and as handsome and gallant as only her Prince Charming could be. No, she was not afraid. And yet, she found herself shivering as well.

For the first time since waking up she realized how incredibly cold it was. The bitter, biting sharpness of the wintery forest surprised her.

She could see small specks of ice on Charming's blonde eyelashes, and she thought they might be his tears, sparkling in solid form, clear and pure and as beautiful as the man himself.

She wondered how long she'd been lying in that coffin. Too long, she told herself. Even a minute would have been too long. And she felt a minute longer would surely be unbearable.

Her fingers were especially sore.

Snow pressed her digits to the skin beneath the collar of his blood-red jacket, looking for the familiar comfort of his warmth, but she could feel nothing except the sensation of a thousand tiny frozen needles prickling into her hands with every move.

They shivered in unison. "Charming, I'm so cold"

"Find her a cloak!" Said a stern voice behind them. Only then did the bubble of her vision burst, and Snow realized she wasn't alone with Charming.

"Grumpy!" Snow grinned and turned to see all the dwarfs surrounding her and the Prince.

All her friends were standing there, looking at her with the adoration and devotion they reserved only for her. And Snow White felt an overwhelming surge of gratitude for these men once more. From the moment they had taken her in and offered her their shelter and, most importantly, their friendship, they had become a core of certainty and stability in her life. Something she hadn't experienced since her mother passed away.

They gathered closer around her. Their sweet, smiling faces making her forget the cold for a brief moment.

"We haven't got a cloak for you Snow" Doc said, reaching for her slender wrist and examining her pulse with his small, wise hands. "I apologize. No one thought to bring one since…" he stopped and frowned, sorrow mirroring in the faces of all those around the Princess.

There was no need to say it out loud. They all knew what the oldest dwarf meant. Who would think to carry a cloak for the dead? The dead don't require protection from the cold of life.

"Your things are still at the cottage." Happy said. He had never sounded so sad before. Indeed, Happy had never felt true sadness until the day they found Snow White's lifeless body on that hill.

"It doesn't matter. She can have this, and then we will all leave this place at once." Charming unbuttoned the frumpy golden buttons of his blazer and placed it on Snow's shoulders, purposefully disregarding the icy air that reddened his skin under the light material of his undershirt.

Without further discussion, he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the white horse that had been patiently gnawing on partially frozen grass.

"But where shall we go?" Snow White asked as her Prince settled her across the brown saddle and climbed on behind her. "Are we still in the Queen's realm?"

With Charming's arms around her, Snow felt as safe as she would ever be. But that evil woman's thirst for vengeance was always present in the princess' mind; and it had determined Snow White's actions for so long that she could no longer decide where to go next without first thinking of the repercussions it would bring from the Queen.

Before Prince Charming could think of what to say, Grumpy spoke up.

"No" he assured her. "We could not remain there after what the Queen did to you. We're in King George's realm now. And you're coming home with us." Then he looked at David and nodded. "You both are."

Prince Charming smiled in gratitude. Indeed, he had made no plans as to what they would do or where they would go after he found her, _if_ he found her. His mission had not spanned that far ahead.

And so the couple rode and followed the seven dwarfs who walked slowly in front of them, leading the way to a small but welcoming cottage, as they whistled while they walked.

_(To be continued...)_

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_Thank you for reading and for the reviews._

_And thanks to Angie for the help again!_


	5. Little House

_Once again, thank you so much for the reviews and the follows :) __They are immensely appreciated! _

_Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint._

**_No copyright infringement intended._**

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It was on the way to the 7 dwarfs' home that Snow White heard from her friends what had happened after they found her. How they had taken her back to their cottage, and how Red and Granny had looked after her and had dressed her in the finest dress they could find, as the dwarfs worked all night to build her the glass coffin.

"They wanted to be here," Doc said. "Red insisted on it. But it's the first full moon of the season tonight and…" he looked up at the Prince, unaware of how much Charming knew about the girl's peculiar ability, "well, Granny didn't think it would be safe, nor wise, for Red to be roaming around at night after all that happened. She took her home this morning."

David thought the comment somewhat unusual, but then again, the situation had been anything but normal for him since he was so harshly plucked out of his family's humble estate and thrown into a world where dragons, magic, violence, corruption and captivatingly beautiful runaway princesses were the norm rather than the exception.

Snow White smiled as she reminisced about her friend Red. Loyal, adventurous, funny, gorgeous Red Riding Hood. Always there for Snow; even when it was dangerously foolish to be. She had embarked on a journey with the princess within days of meeting her, and, without knowing anything more about each other than a few dark secrets, they had grown closer and closer together until an unbreakable bond of friendship, honesty and love had blossomed between the two girls.

A bond that would last a lifetime, they were the sisters neither of them had ever had.

Meeting Red, and then embarking together on what would become Snow White's long nomadic existence, was the start of the first true friendship the princess could remember.

However, their joint journey of discovery had cost Red the life of her mother, and later a health problem of her grandmother's had forced the young girl to return home to look after the woman who raised her. So Snow had once again lived on her own, and would fill the loneliness of her days by roaming the woods and looking for something to steal up and down the route that eventually led the princess to her prince Charming.

"We must send word to them." Snow White told the dwarfs as they approached the men's small cabin. She mentioned of the possibility of getting one of her birds to deliver the message, but was soon saddened by the news that the birds had never returned to the house after her body was brought back from her meeting with the Queen.

Her friends found it odd, they told her. But Snow knew it was not. She understood why.

Ever since she had discovered her rare gift of being able to communicate with the birds when she was a little girl she had been aware of their intelligence and sensitivity. They are the smartest of creatures; and Snow White realized her birds would not have come looking for her if they thought she was dead.

Grumpy offered to go into the village and hire a rider to deliver the message, then promptly pulled two of his brethren to accompany him. Not because he needed help with that task, but rather because he would need extra hands to carry back all the brewed ale he was planning to get at the tavern so they could toast to the return of Snow White. After all, if a princess coming back to life wasn't reason to celebrate, he didn't know what was.

The dwarfs' cottage was a secluded structure deep in the woods. Well hidden from the curiosity of possible wanderers by a thick tapestry of mossy trees with wide, hanging branches covered in green leaves, abundant all around the clearing where the house was constructed.

It was near dusk as they stepped inside; the light of the orange-tinted sky filtering through the small windows of the house, and its stout wooden door creaking loudly as it opened to reveal the rustic, warm and simple -yet messy- interior.

After ducking his head to pass through the threshold, the prince realized that the little house was indeed much like the one he had grown up in. However, his mother would have been horrified at the state of this lively residence. Charming couldn't help but smile, amused at the thought of Ruth walking in on this cluttered and untidy pad, very clearly the home of a group of bachelors.

Snow White found herself smiling as well, looking at the familiarity of the almost claustrophobic house.

The mess had gotten slightly better for a while when she lived there. They had tried to keep things clean for her, and she had insisted on helping. But the inevitable disorder that results from those seven men living together cannot be contained for long. And so it had slowly but surely spilled all over the inside of the cottage once again.

Bowls, mugs, food and a collection of knickknacks occupied the rustic dining table. Clothes and shoes had taken permanent residence on the ground and over the scarce furniture.

Except for several hammocks hanging across every nook in the place, a set of tiny bunk beds, and some blankets strewn along the floor, there was hardly space for anyone to possibly sleep comfortably, Charming thought.

Only one spot in the home remained untouched by the accumulating clutter. A corner of the house was separated from the dining table by the thin, gauzy fabric of a beige curtain, hung to offer a slight sense of privacy to that one chamber.

Behind the curtain was a small chest of drawers, a wooden partition, a washstand with its decanter, and a bed -a large bed–, not only clean but topped with a quilt and pillows, next to which stood a nightstand and a vase filled with little wilting flowers.

It was Snow White's room.

The Princess took Charming's hand and led him behind the curtain, while the rest of her friends hurriedly attempted to tidy up some of the chaos.

Snow didn't need her prince to tell her what he was thinking. She could see it in his face as he looked around the small room.

He was surprised, and even a little angry.

As soon as Prince Charming walked in the house and spotted the separate space he had wondered the reason behind it. It was obvious the men were accustomed to sleeping all over the place, so why the little area beside the kitchen?

The oddly delicate area stood out as a sore thumb in contrast with the rest of the house. But as soon as David saw the dwarfs' proud faces looking at Snow, and in turn her own face before she lead him straight towards the room, Charming realized the answer to his silent question was clear. And it wasn't one he particularly liked.

Snow White, _his_ Snow White, had actually been staying in this little cottage, living with these little fellows.

Prince Charming had never before considered himself a jealous man, nor did he have anything against the friendship between the Princess and the dwarfs, but up until that point he thought Snow had been living alone in the woods… and yes, foolishly he had imagined her thinking of him and waiting for him.

Of course, the prince wasn't aware of the circumstances that had led her there. There had been no time yet to tell him the story of what transpired before and after that horrible conversation where she had broken his heart, and her own, in order to save his life, nor to explain that it was her love for him that placed her in the path of the dwarfs in the first place, and eventually into their home.

So, David couldn't help the small flicker of envy that was now burning in his heart.

These men, prince Charming told himself, had shared more time with her than he ever had. Probably knew her a lot better than him.

Well, he reached into the pocket of his trousers and felt the smooth texture of his mother's ring, he would soon change that.

_(To Be Continued...)_

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___Thanks for reading & reviewing!  
_

___Special thanks to Angie for the help and suggestions._

___Anne._


	6. Talk

_**Thanks for the reviews, sorry it's taken so long!**_

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For an instant, Snow White panicked.

She could only imagine what it must seem like, a young woman -a princess no less- living in a house with seven grown man. It was the reason she had asked Red not to tell her grandmother about it when they had traveled to meet Snow as part of her plan to rescue Charming.

Admittedly, after she became a fugitive the princess had ceased to worry much about what people would say or think about her, and, despite her good nature and friendly disposition, she had learned to stop explaining or excusing her actions to others. But her friends were her friends. It was different.

Snow silently stripped Charming's jacket off her shoulders and turned away from him to pull something out of a drawer. After seeing that flash of what looked like anger in the prince's eyes, she was slightly scared of what he might be thinking of her.

As if sensing her apprehension, Charming spoke first. But not without making sure the dwarfs had busied themselves with something else first.

"So, you live here" it was not a question.

"Charming" she turned to face him again, tensely grasping a gown with her pale fingers. "They are simply my friends. Nothing else. And I owe them more than I will ever be able to repay."

Charming frowned, confused. And then he understood.

She thinks you doubt her loyalty, his mind shouted. Or perhaps her love –maybe even her purity. "Stop" he said aloud, as much to halt his train of thought as hers.

Snow's eyes were pleading, almost tortured as they looked into his. She felt the need to explain everything all at once, but hesitated whether this was the right time. There was so much she needed to say, but she felt weary and overwhelmed. All she wanted to do was slip into his arms and feel his comforting warmth again.

"I owe them my life," she managed to say before, as if reading her mind, Charming walked the short distance to where she stood and held her face between his large, strong hands. She was still cold to the touch; and he yearned to wrap himself around her until his skin had infused hers with its natural heat again.

Snow White felt his breath upon her lips as he sighted, a single tear making its lonely way down her soft cheek as she instinctively closed her eyes.

Kissing the small teardrop, he felt the saltiness of her tear tickle his lower lip and his heart raced at the thought of finally being able to freely taste even the tiniest part of her.

"You must think me so petty" David whispered fervently, his face and body drawing impossibly closer to hers. Snow's clean gown was crushed between them -most of the fabric puddled on the dusty ground, like shimmering water flowing down from between their pressed bodies.

"To be thinking and talking of such silly matters after all that you've been through." He continued.

But the princess shook her head; she didn't want an apology, she didn't need an apology.

Snow pulled his lower lip with her teeth, tugging gently at it and eliciting a soft groan deep down his throat -equally matched by a rush of blood down to his groin- thus effectively making him forget whatever he'd been thinking of mere seconds earlier.

The princess could feel his hands moving further down her hips, and she wondered if she might have been able to feel an entirely different part of his anatomy had they had fewer layers of clothes between them.

Soon, they were kissing again, and Snow realized they were dangerously close to starting down a path that could prove embarrassing for everyone in the cabin.

Another time Charming, she told herself, I shall make sure we pick this up at another time.

David was surprised to suddenly feel her turning around in his arms, the kiss over, his hands coming briefly into contact with the tout contour of her buttocks.

"Undo my gown." Her voice was soft and raspy.

"What?" He asked clumsily, looking up from her slim backside to stare at her beautiful black hair. He couldn't think straight. His mind was muddled and his senses buzzing with the palpable electricity of their mutual attraction.

"I need to change out of this dress." She said with a grin, knowing full well what he was feeling since she was feeling the same way. Her sweet voice innocent and seductive all at once. "Can you untie the laces so that I may do it? Please."

She reached over to lift her hair away from her shoulders and felt again the warmth of his breath upon her skin, this time on her neck. Her breathing fastening as his strong fingers traced lines from her hips to between her shoulder blades.

David's hands were shaking as he carefully tugged the thin ribbons of her bodice. His concentration wavering as the gown began to come apart and his eyes rested on the exposed flesh of her back for the first time ever.

For a moment he thought she was wearing nothing underneath, his knees almost buckling with anticipation. Then the edge of an undershirt became visible, but he remained just as enthralled; Charming had never seen a woman without a corset under her clothes before.

It was terribly arousing and exhilarating. The air was heavy with desire, and everyone and everything else outside that room was momentarily forgotten.

Her dress finally completely untied, Snow heard him sighing behind her. She didn't need to look at him to know that he was struggling to keep himself a gentleman, his excitement tinkering with the limits of his self-restraint.

She smiled at herself once more; smiled at the rush of power and satisfaction she felt being able to produce such temptation in him by doing nothing more than inviting him to unlace her garment.

However much pleasure she felt imagining Charming caving into an overwhelming urge and ripping her dress completely off her body, Snow decided it was best to end his torture now and slowly walked away from him.

Sneaking behind the changing screen, the princess started sharing a summarized version of the story of how she ended up living with the dwarfs.

Charming sat on the bed and listened. Soon, the moment's magic and thoughts of passion were overcome by the resentment and hatred he felt towards the man he had to call 'father' for appearance's sake.

No more, he thought. King George was naught but a monster in royal clothing; a corrupted soul who would one day pay for all his wrongdoings. Charming would see to that.

"Your father is a very determined man. And he's determined to keep us apart."

As Snow stepped to stand in front of him again in her clean gown, David knew that he needed to tell her the whole truth about who he really was as soon as possible; but not in that moment, nor in that place.

He needed more privacy than the small cabin could offer, as well as the freedom to speak without so many sets of ears around to listen.

Snow White knew the story had upset him, just as she knew the dark and troubled thoughts that were now running through his mind. She could almost see the cloudy, angry feelings lingering behind his pale blue eyes and the frown upon his forehead.

It is not easy to hear how a parent -someone who is supposed to protect you and love you- is willing to trample over your feelings to get what they want; to realize how far they will go regardless of the consequences. She knew of this first hand, her own stepmother being responsible for nearly all the tragedies and miseries plaguing Snow's life.

The princess wondered if she should have indeed waited for a better time, should have told him all this later. But there was still so much to say, and seeing as she had to start somewhere, she had impulsively shared part of the story just to fill the silence and to distract him –and herself- of the fact that she was undressing in his presence.

Now, unable to reverse time, she did the next best thing she could think of. She tried to comfort him.

Snow took his face between her hands, caressing the rough, fuzzy stubble of his unshaved cheeks, and forcing him to look into her eyes. "Hey, it will be alright. We're together now."

Charming felt close to tears at the tenderness in her face, and at the compassion burning brightly in her two green irises; thoughts of revenge against king George not quite forgotten, but abated in her soothing proximity.

Thankfully, before any more talk of heartbreaks and misfortunes could ruin the rest of the evening for them, Snow and David were distracted by the loudness of the dwarfs as they welcomed back three of their man, who had departed the group to collect what seemed to be a whole tavern's worth of liquor.

Bringing enough barrels of ale and rum to satisfy a small village, the cabin was soon filled with the pungent smell of alcohol and the hollow, shallow noises of mugs bumping together and being set on the table.

_(To Be Continued...)_

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Thank you for reading.


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